Asian American Electorate to
More than Double by 2040

A new report released today by the UCLA Study for the Center for Inequality and the Asian Pacific American Institute for Congressional Studies (APAICS) shows that by 2040 the Asian American electorate will more than double, and grow by 107%.
The study comes 50 years after the passage of the Immigration & Nationality Act of 1965 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965.
“Our report finds that in 2015, there are 20.5 million Asian Americans, and a quarter of a century from now, 35.7 million,” said Paul Ong, Director of the UCLA Center on the Study of Inequality. “In 2040, nearly 1 in 10 Americans will be Asian American. During the same period, the number of Asian American registered voters will increase from 5.9 million to 12.2 million.”
“These trends have notable implications for Asian American political empowerment [and] significant meaning for the very nature of American politics, said Franklin Gilliam Jr, Dean of UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs.

RI: Neighbors in Baltimore Coming to Aid of
Korean American Grocer Vandalized during Rioting

Grace Lyo could not believe what she was seeing two weeks ago during the height of the Baltimore rioting after the death of Freddie Gray in police custody.
“It’s smoking, and the fires and the fire engine. But I can’t believe, ‘Oh this is my store!’” she said to PRI. “And my heart was so trembling … how can this happen to me? But we’re still living, you know?”
Lyo is an integral part of the West Baltimore neighborhood of Sandtown-Windchester. Children bring them their report cards when they get good grades. She tells them one day they could be president like Barack Obama. Customers say when money is tight, Lyo will let them pay her later. When Lyo has to work on Thanksgiving and Christmas, neighbors bring her dinner.
Now some have launched a crowd funding campaign to help Lyo reopen her store. Some have come by to personally hand her checks. Still others plan to hold a benefit on behalf of Lyo.
“They call her ‘Mama,’” said Marvin Warfield, who lives nearby. “She was like a mama of the community.”

Ten New Fact Sheets
about Asian Americans

The Center for American Progress has released ten new fact sheets about the Asian American community.
The sheets were published in cooperation with Karthick Ramakrishnan of AAPI Data.
The fact sheets include data about educational attainment, income and poverty, civic participation, language diversity, immigration and nativity, labor-force participation, and access to health insurance.
• The Cambodian American population of 320,000 in the United States has grown 15 percent in just three years from 2010 -2013. They are much more likely to be first generation immigrants than the US average.
• The share of poverty among Chinese American children is 20 percent.
• More Filipino Americans are registered Republican than Democrat, 27 to 24 percent. But 45 percent don’t belong to either party.
• 89 percent of Hmong American voters voted in 2012. That’s higher than the US average.
• 80 percent of Indian Americans speak a language other than English at home.
• The Japanese American population grew 22 percent from 2000 – 2013.
• 25 percent of Korean Americans do not have health insurance.
• 32 percent of Laotian Americans have less than a high school diploma.
• The population of Pakistani Americans grew 132 percent from 2000 – 2013.
• 82 percent of Vietnamese Americans are American citizens.
You can find all these fact sheets at the Center for American Progress.

Lawsuit Seeks $5 Million from Pacquiao for
Not Disclosing Shoulder Injury

Two Las Vegas residents have filed a class-action lawsuit against Manny Pacquiao, his manager and his promotional team following his loss to Floyd Mayweather.
The suit is seeking more than $5 million in damages and hinges on whether Pacquiao and his team failed to disclose a fight-determining shoulder injury to the Nevada Athletic Commission before the public bet on and purchased tickets or pay-per-view access to the fight.
According to The Associated Press, Pacquiao filed paperwork before the match that indicated he did not have a shoulder injury. Attorney Daniel Petrocelli, who represents Pacquiao’s promotional company, told ESPN the shoulder injury in question was sustained during the fight, rather than hidden from officials beforehand. The Nevada State Attorney General’s office is investigating the paperwork.